The 1234 exercise (great technique builder)

[Mike_E_McGee]

I started typing this in a thread on the guitar forum where people are posting their metronome speeds on the old 1234 exercise, but I thought it deserved its own thread. For those that don't know, the 1234 exercise is a simple finger pattern exercise that builds very strong technique. In its' most basic form, you would number your left hand fingers index=1 to pinky=4, and play one finger per fret. You would start on the low E string, and play 1234 (picking every note), and then play on the A string 1234 etc. As you'll see you can take it a bit further than this...

 

 

 

I love this exercise, and I thought I'd post some of my favorite itterations.

 

[i'm not sure how well this will format, but the exercise should be played with a metronome as a smoothe string of sixteenth notes]

 

I was first taught:

--------------------------------1234 5432-------------------

--------------------------1234-------------5432-------------

---------------------1234------------------------5432-------

--------------1234--------------------------------------5432

-------1234---------------------------------------------------(etc.)

1234----------------------------------------------------------

This is shown with fret numbers, not finger numbers. It just shows that I shift positions on the E strings to begin the next bit.

Once you get back to the low E string, move up another fret, go back to the 1234 finger pattern (frets 3456) and play ascending again..

Go all the way up the neck, and then come back down, shifting one position on each itteration.

There are 24 combinations of the four fingers. 1234 inverts to 4321, so that leaves us 22 combinations to go. The following are all 24 patterns:

1234, 1243, 1324, 1342, 1423, 1432, 2134, 2143, 2314, 2341, 2413, 2431, 3124, 3142, 3214, 3241, 3421, 3412, 4123, 4132, 4213, 4231, 4312, and 4321.

I like to practice all of them (not in one sitting) and you make much quicker progress by inverting the patterns (since 1234 inverts to 4321 it gives you 12 excercises instead of 24)

I also like to start with 4321 ascending, and decend with 1234 for a very different feel (We're now back to 24 exercises, but we've practiced all 24 patterns ascending, and decending). (You can also start picking with an upstroke instead of a downstroke, and we're at 48 exercises at this point.)

 

 

The next big step (for me) was to introduce string skipping:

-------------------------------------------1234 (up a fret)4321--

-------------------------------1234----------------------------------

-------------------1234------------1234------------------------432

------1234------------1234------------------------------------------

-------------1234-----------------------------------------------------

1234------------------------------------------------------------------

Etc.

That is a ton of fun played quickly with a 2314 pattern (inverting to 4132 coming down).

 

 

After that, I'll start to mix patterns:

---------------------------------------------2314

--------------------------------2314-------------

-------------------2314-------------1234-------

------2314------------1234---------------------

-------------1234--------------------------------

1234---------------------------------------------

 

Using random finger patterns, and putting string skipping to good use can make these musically viable, and damn interesting to hear (especially when you get some speed up), but generally I think of them as exercises, not soloing techniques. I think it can breed speed, flexibility, good tone, finger independance...Let's just say that it's a great exercise.

 

I think that its' best feature is that it is so simple. Yes, at first you can confuse yourself with all the different ways to play this, but if you just pick a pattern or two to work on you'll be fine.

 

This is great when I'm not in the mood for anything, but I want to do something constructive. When I don't want to veg in front of the TV, but I don't feel creative, I can break out the metronome, and lose myself for 20-30 minutes. After that my hands may start to hurt, and that means it's break time. Don't hurt yourself.

 

I think that the most important things to focus on in this type of practice are tone and rythm. If one note is out of place, or comes out fuzzy, YOU ARE GOING TOO FAST! Drop it down a click, and get it right 5 times in a row without moving back to your initial speed. If you make another mistake, move down again. I have had sessions where instead of going faster, and faster, I just kept missing, and went slower and slower. If you've never practiced it, you will be suprised at how hard it is to keep things even at slow tempos.

ALWAYS USE A METRONOME!!!!! Start slow, and stay there until you are warmed up, and remember this is not a race. The point is to build good strong technique. You want to be able to get from any note to any note as quickly as you can get from the gas to the brake pedal in an emergency, and this exercise can help with that, but don't become a speed freak. The key here is to keep it even, and tonefull. Speed won't help if your notes are crappy, and if you can keep it even, and sounding good, speed will come. I promise.

I really can't emphasize this enough, but I'll try...Always use a metronome, and keep it slow enough that your sound, and rythm are PERFECT! Speed will just happen eventually.

 

As in depth as I've gone, I've just scratched the surface, so please feel free to add your own permutations. I'm sure I could work out more ways of playing this, but if you want to give me a few ideas, that'd be just fine. I'd hate to overuse my brain.

 

Peace,

McGee

[jdd48]

That exercise has helped my finger control and speed by leaps and bounds. Before using it, I had no use of my pinky whatsoever. Now I am just as proficient with my pinky as my first finger.

[thamiam]

I've always done the 1234 in its basic form. Thanks for opening my eyes to all the other possibilities, especially the string skipping.

[big69]

I love that excersize too, another fav of mine is the chromatic excerisize of death

 

 

-----------------------------------1234-

----------------------------2345--------

---------------------3456---------------

--------------4567----------------------

-------5678-----------------------------

6789------------------------------------

 

then back down

 

4321------------------------------------

-------5432-----------------------------

--------------6543----------------------

---------------------7654---------------

----------------------------8765--------

-----------------------------------9876-

[Micha³]

This is one of the most useful exercises I've done. I picked it up form J. Pettrucci when he was doing a clinic in Poland. I knew It before but I did not take it too seriously. But since then, that's the time I really started playing.

Micha

[TeleScreamer]

I learned a lot with this exercise also. really good.

 

One thing you must try: I like to study this with "fixed fingers", I mean: You play 1234 on the E string, and only when you'll play 1 on the A string you remove the first finger from the E string, and then you remove the second finger from the E string to use it for the B on the A string, and so on.

 

And it gets even better when you do the 4321 thing.

 

enjoy it.

[thelonius74]

with what frequency would you reccomend this exercise to a player like me?

 

I've been playing about 18 years, and while I have a bit of speed, I'm pretty sloppy. A bit on the Pagish side. Want to improve my technique and speed a bit.

[Bajazz]

 

Originally posted by TeleScreamer And it gets even better when you do the 4321 thing. enjoy it.

 

 

Would'nt that be lifting one finger at a time?

[Micha³]

I think you should do it as a warm up in its many variations ( 2341,3412, etc.) throughout the fretborad. It is even more useful if you start using it creatively i.e. try to incorporate it into you solos as a way of chnging position n the fret, etc. J. Petrucci, as well as S. Morse use it that way quite often, so if you don't know what I mean check them out. Soon if you do this really dilligently you will get over your technique problems. I personally think (although I love Page) that his sloppy style was due to his laziness more than, as he said once, doue to inadequate anatomy of his hands. So if you keep on practicing, you will get over your problem soon, but never ever sacrifice ACCURACY for the sake of speed. The latter will come , with time.

Good luck

Micha

[mensa_reject]

hrmm...i don't think you said this, but i might have missed it.

 

use the up-down pattern on your pick hand. it should increase your speed a bit if you learn to develop it a bit, or at least i'm told. i think this is automatic for a lot of players, but i didn't know about it until just a couple months ago (i've never took lessons).

 

the up-down pattern is just picking up and then down and then up and then down instead of up-up-up or down-down-down. i dunno if that's clear or not.

 

hehe...i'm a lil tired, i hope that made sense.

[mensa_reject]

ooh that instructional thread for shred explains it nicely.

 

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=157318

[Russ T Nail]

An excellent thread.

 

Another variation I introduce is to vary the picking patterns, so play the E string 1 note/finger, A string 2 notes/finger, D string triplets etc.

 

take care

 

Russ T